title: Integrating translational neuroscience to improve drug abuse treatment for adolescents.
abstract: Adolescence is an exciting and challenging period of maturation, rapid brain development, and developmental changes in neurobiological, neurocognitive, and neurobehavioral processes. Although behavioral therapies available for adolescent substance abuse have increased, effectiveness research in this area lags considerably behind that of clinical research on treatment for drug-abusing adults. Behavioral treatment approaches show significant promise for treating drug-abusing adolescents, but many have not incorporated innovations in neuroscience on brain development, cognitive processes, and neuroimaging. Linking developmental neuroscience with behavioral treatments can create novel drug abuse interventions and increase the effectiveness of existing interventions for substance-abusing adolescents. Contemporary research on brain development, cognition, and neuroscience is ripe for translation to inform developmentally sensitive drug abuse treatments for adolescents. Neuroscientists and interventionists are challenged to build mutual collaborations for integration of neuroscience and drug abuse treatment for adolescents.
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Neuroscience and Behavioral Research, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. cboyce@mail.nih.gov
authors.forename: Cheryl Anne
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Boyce
authors.forename: Sarah D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Lynne-Landsman
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D041923:Adolescent Development / Q000502:physiology*; D000328:Adult; D001521:Behavior Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D001921:Brain / Q000254:growth & development; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D033183:Interdisciplinary Communication; D009488:Neurosciences / Q000639:trends*; D012109:Research Support as Topic; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D057170:Translational Research, Biomedical / Q000639:trends*